Karrot – wild cat to (almost) mild cat

Karrot came to us as a tiny, but ferocious, ball of teeth and fur. She’d been born on a farm where the cats didn’t have great lives. However, a worker at the farm took pity on these little creatures, bundled them into a bag before anyone else got a chance to see them and phoned us to see if we could take them. Of course, we did.

Karrot - rescue cat
Karrot – rescue cat
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There were four kittens, about 5-6 weeks old possibly, eating well but full of fleas and worms. These health problems were taken care of as soon as possible and we set about handling these little spitfires.

The other three came around quite easily and when old enough, they were rehomed to become loved family members. Karrot had other ideas. She was having none of it! By the time she was about six months old and getting no better we decided that, once neutered she could live on site.

We’d been bitten and scratched so many times, this option seemed safest (certainly for us) once released into our ‘feral’ unit, fed in there, and slowly introduced to the other ‘ferals’. She became a much happier cat. We still couldn’t handle her but she would come within arm’s reach.

It was an improvement. Once we thought she would be OK in the outside world, we let her loose from the unit and she ran and didn’t look back!! That’s it, we’d lost her.

We were worried sick as we have a busy road to the front of us and all the other cats keep away from it and we’d hoped she’d hang around with them and learn from them. After a couple of days of no sightings, she came skulking back just as we were feeding the others, looking a bit sheepish.

Her food was put in front of her and she wolfed it back like she’d never eaten. ‘That’ll learn you’ she was told, but kindly. We were so happy to see her back safe and sound. As time went on, she got better and better around us, even, occasionally allowing us to tickle the top of her head, but if you went on too long you got a nip for your trouble.

A couple of years ago we found her with a completely broken tail, snapped in two, with the bone sticking out of the end. HORRIBLE! she was very good and allowed me, with minimal fuss, to get her into a cat basket and take her to the vet, where the tail had to be amputated. she was not amused about having to be confined until her wound healed and after she was finally released she wouldn’t come anywhere near us for weeks.

She would just sit and scowl at us from a distance, she was such a character. More recently she has allowed more people to, briefly, tickle the top of her head and she has seemed so happy with her life. Having her put to sleep today at the age of only 5 years was heartbreaking.

She was born with tiny kidneys that just couldn’t function any longer. The fact that I was holding and cuddling her told us just how ill she really was. We didn’t need the blood test results. It was the kindest thing to do. We couldn’t let her suffer. The last thing I said to her was ‘come back and see us’.

I think she will come back and see us, as she loved her life prowling around the fields, playing in the hay with the other cats and eating her own body weight in food at every opportunity. She had a short but happy life, and we’ll miss her little fat face.

See you around Karrot.

Leanne

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19 thoughts on “Karrot – wild cat to (almost) mild cat”

  1. Yes Gerty is at peace now and it’s you suffering and you shouldn’t be as you did your very best for her.
    Just think if she was still at home she wouldn’t have had a gentle ending to her life, in fact it would have probably gone un-noticed that she was ill!
    We feel guilty for not knowing what was really going on, we could have done something about it if we had, looking back we always wish we’d known but at the time we just didn’t know!
    I still shed tears for all those cats.

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    • exactly, all those poor cats suffered one way or another. like i’ve said before we, and they, will see our day with the one responsible. if it was’nt for you and babz, god knows what would have happened to them.

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      • what you have just said michael seems to sum little gerty’s life up. nervous, vulnerable, no-one liked/cared about her. we did, obviously and so did ruth and babz of course, but i mean her previous ‘owners’ she had obviously only ever been a possession, as ruth said one of many. gerty certainly needed help but did’nt know, or was too afraid to ask for it. one thing i do know, where we were not allowed to get too close, marcus certainly was and i know that he gave her more comfort and companionship than she would EVER allowed us to give her. to see the two of them together was lovely, she seemed relaxed, well as relaxed as gerty ever let herself be, with marcus and he loved her and seemed to watch over her. they never squabbled over food as even the best of pals sometimes will, he just let her have what she wanted and if she wanted his bowl, he let her have it. so maybe she was happiest here. not from what we gave her but what marcus gave her! we need to find marcus his own special home asap, after his service to catkind, he deserves it. i’m sure gerty would agree.

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  2. Leanne, after Gerty came to you I think she was the happiest she had ever been, you gave her respect and security.
    Knowing what we know now, the person who abandoned her wasn’t a real cat lover, just a cat hoarder, it wasn’t about each cat, it was about having ‘the cats’ and being known as a ‘wonderful cat rescuer’
    I think she was probably born feral and would have done better being spayed and released when she was young rather than forced to live amongst humans who she never really trusted apart from the one who eventually abandoned her, but even so she obviously never had loving contact with that person and she didn’t love that little cat, she never once enquired about any of the 15 cats after she left them.

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    • i know it galls you as much as me ruth. the whole horrible story. i just wish we could have found gerty a place she could have been happy and could have called home, somewhere of her own (hers and marcus, of course)it makes me so sad that she never had that. we did what we could for her and gave her all she would allow us to give her, sometimes i have thought should we have pushed her a bit more, maybe she would have gotten used to ‘closeness’ if not handling. so yes i’m feeling guilty,and i know you have and will again no doubt say i should’nt, but i cant help it. i suppose we all do it, feeling guilty after the event, wishing we could have done things differently. poor gerty she did’nt deserve the life doled out to her, i hope she’s happy now. at least she cant be hurt and frightened any longer.

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  3. thanks everyone for your kind comments. both gerty and karrot will always be remembered at kays hill. i wish i had better memories of little gerty, unfortunately there are no special cuddles or purrs to remember her by. the best we got was her not running to hide from us when she was with marcus. i suppose thinking about it maybe that’s the best memory, seeing her curled up with marcus in their bed, warm and snuggled, with a full belly. its not a lot is it for a little cats lifetime. the person or people responsible for gerty’s frame of mind have a hell of a lot to answer for. i have better memories of karrot, her following me right to the top fields, just me, karrot and sheba,(gsd), taking hay to the horses. she loved to be up there. thats where i tend to think of her now, well, either there or in ‘her’ chair in the cattery.

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  4. Wow Leanne you write so well!! I had a tear in my eye when she was put to sleep I think it was because after your telling of her I felt as though I knew what she was like 🙂
    Such a beautiful story she looks so happy in the picture and she had such a lovely life thanks to you
    Thanks so much for sharing

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  5. Bless the little soul she had much to put up with in her short life, I’m so glad she knew love on her own terms at Kays Hill, I remember seeing on a few of our visits, she was beautiful even after losing part of her tail. Maybe one day you’ll feel a little nip on your finger or a tiny headrub against your leg and it’ll be Karrot come to tell you all is well with her now. RIP Karrot.

    Reply

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